24.8.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 197/1

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stresses the urgent need to consider demographic trends at the level of regions, cities and municipalities and in a more differentiated way, as very different and in some cases contrary trends are underway simultaneously within the Member States and, on the other hand, similar patterns of development are discernible in different regions of Europe. In future the regions, cities and municipalities will need to have their own policy strategies and guidelines based on realistic population forecasts;

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considers that the demographic trend must be a horizontal political topic to ensure that action can be taken in good time to counteract the long-term risks and recognise and exploit the opportunities. To this end, it is necessary to face up to uncomfortable truths and to take all factors into account in the public debate. Only when policy-makers and the public have accepted a shrinking as well as an ageing population as an irreversible structural fact can appropriate reactions be formulated;

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stresses that the demographic challenge should not be seen in a purely negative light. On the one hand too few children are being born to maintain current population levels. This will in the long term become a problem for European societies, for which a solution must be found. At the same time people are also living and staying healthy longer, and that is good news. In addition it must be recognised that older people have the potential to make a real contribution to society and this must be recognised within this debate. Economically prosperous urban areas continue to benefit from inward migration, which can at present still compensate for the low birth rate

1.

wholeheartedly welcomes the Commission initiative which aims to follow on from the discussion of the Green Paper entitled Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations while stressing a change of perception from challenge to opportunity. The Commission's approach, based on an exchange of experience and the launching of a European discussion on dealing with demographic change which will culminate every two years in the holding of a European Demographic Forum, is an important contribution to supporting the Member States and the local and regional authorities. The creation and support of networks of regions at European level and the use and promotion of examples of best practice will make a significant contribution to a constructive and forward-looking discussion of the subject;

2.

supports the Commission's general strategies aimed at creating a Europe:

3.

considers that the demographic trend must be a horizontal political topic to ensure that action can be taken in good time to counteract the long-term risks and recognise and exploit the opportunities. To this end, it is necessary to face up to uncomfortable truths and to take all factors into account in the public debate. Only when policy-makers and the public have accepted a shrinking as well as an ageing population as an irreversible structural fact can appropriate reactions be formulated;

4.

stresses that the demographic challenge should not be seen in a purely negative light. On the one hand too few children are being born to maintain current population levels. This will in the long term become a problem for European societies, for which a solution must be found. At the same time people are also living and staying healthy longer, and that is good news. In addition it must be recognised that older people have the potential to make a real contribution to society and this must be recognised within this debate. Economically prosperous urban areas continue to benefit from inward migration, which can at present still compensate for the low birth rate. On the other hand, in comparison, demographic change is happening significantly faster in many rural areas due to the mass outward migration of young people and partly an inward migration of older, retired people. This trend only exacerbates the problems of the shrinking regions of origin, however;

5.

shares the Commission's view that the rights of every generation must be preserved, as the Commission's communication of 10 May 2007 on Promoting solidarity between the generations explicitly acknowledges. Children and young people need the opportunity to participate in society in the broadest sense. This requires the support of their families, the creation and maintenance of high-quality childcare and educational institutions, vocational training and job prospects. The middle generations needs help and support in looking after and bringing up their children, and also in caring for the elderly. As for the elderly, they need help in participating as independently and actively as possible in social life;

6.

sees as fundamental the factors identified by the Commission as determining demographic trends. The fall in the average number of children per woman, the rising number of old and very old people as a proportion of the overall population, longer and still increasing life expectancy and the only partial counterbalancing of these changes in the population structure by immigration are all general features of the European trend. Aggregate, Member State-level data only provide us with limited information on actual trends, however;

7.

stresses the urgent need to consider demographic trends at the level of regions, cities and municipalities and in a more differentiated way, as very different and in some cases contrary trends are underway simultaneously within the Member States and, on the other hand, similar patterns of development are discernible in different regions of Europe. In future the regions, cities and municipalities will need to have their own policy strategies and guidelines based on realistic, small-scale population forecasts which should deliver equality of opportunity to all;

8.

reiterates the views expressed in its opinion on the Green Paper entitled Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations. It notes that essential features of its opinion have been taken up by the Commission in its communication on The demographic future of Europe — from challenge to opportunity and Promoting solidarity between the generations;

9.

shares the Commission's view that specific reactions to the demographic challenge are above all the responsibility of the Member States. It stresses, however, the special responsibility of the regional and local authorities for tackling demographic challenges. The cities and municipalities are particularly affected by the consequences of demographic change;

10.

strongly supports the European Commission in its efforts to achieve a new intergenerational pact. This means that:

11.

considers it necessary to make reference to the reforms already initiated at national and European level, such as the renewed Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment, the stability and growth pact, the sustainable development strategy, cohesion policy and the open method of coordination in the field of social protection and integration. It points out, however, that merely stating that we need to commit to continuing and deepening these efforts, even in connection with the five core policy directions outlined, is by no means sufficient to create the conditions for the necessary approaches at European, national, regional and local level;

12.

fails to find in the Commission's communication any description of the role of national, regional and local policies. Demographic trends are to a great extent regional and local developments. The communication, by aggregating data at national and European level, gives the misleading impression that problems need to be tackled mainly at these levels. This inhibits the identification of growing regional disparities including those caused by internal migration within Member States;

13.

welcomes the Commission's intention of holding a European Demographic Forum every two years, the results of which will form the subject of a chapter in the Annual Progress Report. It considers the one-sided concentration on the issue of longer life expectancy to be inappropriate, however. Rather, it is necessary to consider the various aspects of demographic change on an equal footing;

14.

emphasises that demographic change presents significant opportunities to improve the quality of life of the elderly by means of new products and services, thus creating jobs and economic growth in Europe and improving European competitiveness. This concerns all areas which contribute to independent and active lifestyles for the elderly: crafts, industry, trade and social organisations, in fields such as tourism, culture, home help, mobility services or financial services;

15.

is in favour of taking the needs of the elderly and the opportunities presented by the ‘silver economy’ more closely into account at EU level, for example by means of inclusion in the Lisbon strategy;

16.

notes that there are significant regional variations in the general demographic trends at European level. Different trends are superimposed, leading to a situation where there are winners (e.g. Greater London and Munich) and losers (e.g. eastern Germany or the regions of western Poland) among the regions of Europe. The result of these trends will be to endanger territorial cohesion. In parallel with these demographic changes, migration from outside the Community is also having an impact on population trends. Internal migration within the EU is also accentuating the large-scale trends, whereby prosperous urban areas are increasingly acting as a magnet for migration. These various trends result in parallel growth and shrinking processes;

17.

concurs with the Commission that the correlation between innovation capacity and skills in demographic change is becoming even stronger. In future, women, and particularly mothers, should be better enabled to put their skills to use according to their own needs and wishes. In addition, educational systems and companies must begin right now to prepare themselves gradually for an increase in the number of older people and immigrants and must cooperate on putting new forms of lifelong learning into practice;

18.

considers reconciling work and family life to be a key requirement for competitiveness of locations, which European employment policy should support and which plays an important role in the development of a strategy for a Europe that favours demographic development;

19.

in this context, welcomes the Commission's communication on Promoting solidarity between the generations. However, the CoR would point out that measures to promote families and to reconcile work and private life should not be seen as the only political response to demographic change. Many regions need to respond to demographic change in a very specific way by adapting services or infrastructure; necessary though they are, family policy measures can only influence demographic change slowly. Furthermore, in many regions emigration of skilled young people is more of a problem than the actual birth rates of those who stay;

20.

welcomes the idea mentioned in the communication on Promoting solidarity between the generations of developing an ‘Alliance for Families’ in order to encourage the necessary exchange of best practices and comprehensive information; however, would strongly advise against seeing such an ‘Alliance for Families’ exclusively in terms of raising birth rates; rather, it should be considered as part of a comprehensive response to demographic change. The Committee of the Regions and the local and regional authorities associated with it should be fully involved in the work of the Alliance; they emphasise their interest in engaging in constructive cooperation and presenting proposals for further development of European generation policy;

21.

stresses the regional disparities in demographic trends. Growing regions are attracting above all young people, women and those from migrant backgrounds. In these regions social disparities are also exacerbated by segregation processes, which leads on the one hand to an increasing need for integration and on the other hand to greater efforts to build and improve an infrastructure appropriate for older people, in order to prevent excessive social exclusion;

22.

recognises that the integration of immigrants is key for the future of society. It assumes that, despite the increased education and training efforts to make better use of the potential of the young generation, there will be a need for skilled workers from countries outside Europe. Important though the competition for skilled workers is, it will have only a limited impact on demographic development;

23.

points out that shrinking regions are not only losing population — they are above all losing young people (especially in the 20 to 30 age bracket) and women, as well as the well educated. Shrinking regions, unlike growing ones, are not a target for inward migration. Thus very diverse problems are arising in European regions against a background of uniform trends at the macro level;

24.

draws attention in this context to the problem of future care needs. Shrinking regions are disproportionately losing their active population. Age-related dependency is not increasing evenly. Rather, particularly given the need for private-sector care in the home, the problem of the emigration of young people is exacerbating the problem of the future support of the care-dependent. Thus, in shrinking regions in particular, the importance of public and independent welfare provision is set to rise;

25.

considers it necessary to focus on the very diverse trends at regional level and to develop the necessary data resources for assessing these trends. Local, regional and national data need to be presented in a comparable way. This, in the form ‘socio-demographic monitoring’, should become an ongoing task;

26.

stresses the particular trend in the Central and Eastern European Member States and the new Länder of Germany. The effects of a falling birth rate and structural changes in demographic factors are most clearly visible in these regions; moreover this is taking place at an accelerated rate. These regions are experiencing a trend which will occur later in most European regions, or else not with the same severity. The CoR sees support of these regions, for example in the framework of the Commission's Regions for Economic Change initiative, as an appropriate way of tackling demographic change throughout Europe;

27.

draws attention to the problems faced by minority cultures within Member States which can be particularly vulnerable to the challenges posed by population movement and demographic change in respect of their culture and continuation of their languages. Changes in composition of communities and families leads to changes in habit and use of languages, for which communities need to plan and prepare;

28.

points out that the current demographic challenge is unique in European history. There are therefore no tried and tested guidelines for European societies to use in tackling this trend. Until now only Japan has had similar experience. The CoR therefore welcomes the Commission's open approach to this issue;

29.

considers that the Commission communication concentrates too much on the issue of increased life expectancy and its consequences. The equally important subject of facing the consequences of a shrinking population and the related restructuring issues in the affected regions is not dealt with. Even given that these questions need to be tackled mainly at national and regional level, they are nonetheless, where infrastructure is concerned, also the focus of a necessary discussion on the use of the Structural Funds;

30.

considers in this context that there is a need to re-examine the disproportionate concentration of European strategies on growth. Regions with a shrinking population have to adopt different development strategies. Infrastructure has to be sustainable for a smaller population and regional development strategies also have to take account of the needs of a smaller number of people. This does not mean, however, that less needs to be invested; rather, a different kind of investment is needed. The development of the economy and society against a backdrop of a shrinking population and strong regional disparities are qualitative rather than primarily quantitative issues. This means that policy, which has hitherto been focused exclusively on growth, will need in addition to take account of contraction and reconstruction;

31.

considers that the following political conditions are needed if the challenges of demographic change are to be successfully tackled:

32.

considers it necessary to support regionally adapted and differentiated strategies to guarantee the best possible public access to services of general interest, ICT services and education;

33.

stresses that demographic change means that employment histories need to be seen in a new light. Business and government will need to make greater use of the experience of older workers. It is essential that older people have greater flexibility in the final years of their working life. Initiatives such as home working, flexible working hours and gradual retirement are essential choices that need to be offered, which may encourage older workers to stay in employment for longer. European societies and above all the two sides of industry should develop new models for the distribution of work over a lifetime, in order to create better employment prospects for younger workers and to promote employment suitable for older workers;

34.

calls for greater emphasis on lifelong learning as people's right and obligation in order to adapt to the constantly changing demands of industry and society;

35.

notes that in shrinking regions there is a need to adapt services of general interest, infrastructure and the life of society to the population, and to changing and falling demand. The problems existing in the Central and Eastern European States of the last accession wave and in eastern Germany show that policies based on scaling down and restructuring infrastructure can affect the future competitiveness of regions;

36.

therefore considers it necessary to re-examine the Structural Funds and the EAFRD in relation to managing the consequences of demographic change in general. It therefore welcomes the Commission's announcement that it will, in the communication to be adopted by the end of 2008, containing proposals as to how the needs of an ageing population can be better taken into account, pay particular attention to the potential role of the Structural Funds in this area;

37.

recommends in this connection that the role of the Structural Funds and the EAFRD be examined inter alia to assess whether the needs of growing and shrinking regions are sufficiently covered in the instruments. The CoR also asks that this assessment be timed in such a way as to ensure that its results are available during the first half of the funding period. The CoR expects the Commission to ensure that demographic change features prominently among the priorities for the Objective 3 programmes/Interreg IVc;

38.

draws attention to the fact that urban regions experiencing high levels of inward migration face major problems with the integration of the various population groups. Demographic effects impact on population groups to different degrees. The integration of young people from migrant backgrounds is an issue of key importance for the future of European societies. The very rapid change in the demographic composition of various population groups is a particular challenge facing the urban regions;

39.

in the light of these findings proposes that typical regional and local problems and trends requiring different responses and strategies be identified at European level. The case studies presented in the appendix are a contribution to this process.